A Season Pass exclusive.
The award-winning title Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope today receives its very first DLC offering, officially titled the ‘Tower of Doooom‘. As part of this Ubisoft and Nintendo have now rolled out a new update for the game.
The patch notes at the moment are only available in Japanese. Below is a rough translation (via Google), which mentions adding support for the game’s Season Pass.
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Amazon is currently a Micro Center 1TB Micro SDXC card for only $84.98. That’s one of the least expensive 1TB Micro SDXC cards we’ve seen, and it’s fully compatible with the Nintendo Switch console.
If you’ve started compiling a collection of digital games, you probably already know just how limited the Switch’s base storage capacity. With only 32GB of starting space (and some of it reserved for the OS), you’ll barely fit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Sword or Shield, which tap out at 13.5GB each! There’s only one expansion slot in the Switch console so you want to make sure you get the biggest card you can afford.
Micro Center is a legitimate company; they have about two dozen retail stores and they’ve been around for over 40 years. This particular brand of Micro SDXC card has over 14,000 reviews on Amazon with an average user score of 4.6/5. The Micro Center “Premium” card has a faster Class U3 rating, which means it boasts a minimum read speed of 30MB/s. Of course if you plan to use this in a Nintendo Switch, it doesn’t even matter. The Nintendo Switch can only support U1 (10MB/s) speeds, so a higher rated U3 speed will just be throttled back down to U1 speeds anyways. So make sure your money goes into maximum storage capacity, not maximum speed.
Note: An official Nintendo Switch branded Micro SDXC card is no more compatible than any other Micro SDXC card with similar specs. Aside from the official licensing, you’re paying extra only for the card’s design. Of course, no one’s going to see the card once installed.
The Switch isn’t the only gaming system that accepts these cards. If you’re a Steam Deck owner, you can also use this card, especially if you picked up the 64GB storage option. This deal may come around on Black Friday, but we highly doubt that it will be any cheaper. You might as well get it now and never worry about running out of space again. Check out our guide to the best SD cards for Steam Deck for more info.
For more deals, take a look at our daily deals for today.
Cricket 22 and AO Tennis developer Big Ant has confirmed AFL 23 will be arriving on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, plus PC, on April 13, 2023.
The studio also revealed a small selection of new screenshots from the game, which will feature all the clubs and teams from the AFL and AFLW, plus the AFL grounds featured in the 2023 season.
The Melbourne, Australia-based developer, which has a long history of building cricket, rugby league, and tennis games, previously developed AFL Live for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2011. Over the last decade, AFL for Wii (2011), AFL Live 2 (2013), AFL Evolution (2017), and AFL Evolution 2 (2020) were developed by Wicked Witch Software, which is also based in Melbourne.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.
Lil Gator Game is a charming sandbox adventure from MegaWobble. It’s available for $19.99 on Steam, but it’s this month’s IGN Plus game and Plus members can get a Steam key as an IGN Reward and jump in right now.
Plus members – get your key for Lil Gator Game here on its IGN Rewards page. Not a Plus member? Learn more here. You can also follow the devs on Twitter.
I sat down with Lil Gator Game devs Scott Slucher (Lead Developer) and Connor Quothe (Lead Writer) to talk about their inspiration, as well as what players can expect when they jump into this fun, lighthearted game.
The titular Lil Gator has a recognizable hat, tunic, and left-handed sword swing that will immediately look familiar to any Zelda fans, and Lil Gator Game wastes no time before making its love for that series explicit. When I asked why the main character was an alligator, Scott laughed and said, “because alligator is green and Link is green,” and although that isn’t the whole story, Scott was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, a fantastic duo from the Game Boy Color generation.
With such classic inspiration, it would be easy to mistake Lil Gator Game for a one-trick pony, but that’s far from the truth. Filling out the world and giving it life are myriad characters, each with fun personalities that make meeting and talking to them breezy and delightful.
The writing was inspired by Frog Detective’s conversational tone, as well as cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents, and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends. Connor’s own theater and Dungeon Master background meant he had experience giving substance and personality to multiple characters, which Lil Gator Game’s broad cast of characters greatly benefits from.
Fueling the lighthearted and comedic side of the game (and leaning into the strength of the side characters) the side quests are inspired by the Yakuza series. “[They are] just weird little things you stumble into,” Scott said, “with a joke or moral message at the end, and then you move on.” Side quests are also incredibly short. There are tons of them, and they can generally be completed in under a minute, creating refreshing gameplay loops of exploration and levity.
The warm, welcoming tone of the game reminds me of A Short Hike, and Scott confirmed some other inspiration for Lil Gator Game was drawn from Kirby’s Air Ride and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which is reflected in Lil Gator’s focus on discovery and undirected play.
When asked about the team’s favorite elements, Connor said his were some Easter Egg items the player will find, and Robin (who was primarily responsible for creating the music) loves the game’s humor. Scott, who was inspired by long hikes near his Kentucky home, is most attached to the trees (which he reworked four times during development).
Scott had one final note to players. “I encourage people to look for ways to find their own fun… I have the concept of a “toy box” with this game. I tried to put in as many toys as I could, in the hopes that they’d be inspired by one of them and would play with it.”
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Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on Twitter (@Ribnax) and Twitch (Ribnax) or check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Twitch & Apple Podcasts.
Hey there, this is Alex Tintor, co-founder of Blue Isle Studios. We’re launching a new game called Leap that has major mod support…something that is pretty near and dear to my heart.
I got my first taste of modding at ten years old, when I started making mods for the Command & Conquer series of games. I worked on the Command & Conquer: Red Alert map editor which I continued to collaborate on with a group of others through my high school years with the Blitzkrieg 2 mod for Command & Conquer: Generals. I met my colleague and studio co-founder Brenden years down the road when Starcraft 2 came out with an impressive set of modding tools. I was on a mission to start a total conversion modding project and had been told I needed to connect with Brenden.
Together at Blue Isle Studios, we have brought numerous games to market over the past decade and have always envisioned developing a game where players are offered the opportunity to mod within the game and create content that adds to the game’s playability. Leap was the perfect game to introduce our Leap Design Works suite of mod tools.. All of our games have amazing communities, and Leap has had an especially active community of modders who have been in the game since our Early Access launch last year. Their content paired with our new partnership with the modding leader Overwolf has set us up to have a nice selection of user-generated content (UGC) from modders all over the world available to play today!
Some of the UGC I am most looking forward to checking out include a mod called “One Bullet One Kill” by Overwolf modder “th_mrow,” and another is located within a private server from another Overwolf modder, Lukas, called “Leap Hardpoint.”
In addition to modding being one hundred percent functional for console launch, Leao also features two modes (PVE and PVP), tons of map maps, weapons, and personal vehicles as modes of transportation (my personal favorites being the robo moose and hoverboard). Leap continues to grow daily as our modding community expands and continues to implement new servers and content. We also have a solid roadmap of content planned for the coming months that includes new weapons and levels among other things that we will reveal soon.
While Leap delivers on what players have come to know and expect from a solid FPS, we are excited to stand out with our partnership with Overwolf, and look forward to keeping our servers filled with imaginative players.
This is a big moment for Brenden and me, as we look back on those hours spent in our teenage bedrooms come full circle; we hope with the launch of this game, it will provide an avenue for new and experienced modders to create content for years to come.
Welcome to Leap! We can’t wait to see what experiences you’ll have and what creative modding content you’ll create – not that I’ll be judging or anything.
Blue Isle Publishing
Work together with your teammates, use powerful weapons and unique class abilities, and traverse the terrain quickly with grappling hooks, jetpacks and outrageous vehicles to seize victory.
Jump on your hoverboard and backflip into battle, or saddle up onto a mechanical moose and lead the charge. Whatever your play style, every LEAP mercenary is equipped with a Personal Vehicle (PV), allowing you to quickly cover distances and close the gap on your enemy.
Every exosuit comes equipped with match altering abilities – Call in an Orbital Laser to wipe out a group of enemies, or throw down a Support Shield to take temporary cover from enemy fire.
Every obstacle is an opportunity to soar, dash or charge, and an elite mercenary will use their unique movement abilities to navigate the battlefield quickly. Use your grappling hook to reach greater heights or your directional dash to dodge enemy fire.
The glory of victory only gets sweeter with rewards. Customize your mercenary with helmet emojis and distinct skin options for exosuits, vehicles and weapons. Flaunt and taunt your frenemies with style and sass.
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Moon’s haunted.
Though the JRPG has remained the de facto king of the RPG space for the last few decades, one could argue that the popular genre would never have existed were it not for DRPGs. What started in eons past with titles like Ultima and aimed to translate a traditional D&D gameplay experience to the screen has given way to more approachable dungeon-crawlers like Etrian Odyssey and Demon Gaze. In 2018, Nippon Ichi tried its hand at the subgenre with the enjoyable Labyrinth Of Refrain: Coven Of Dusk and it’s now opted to follow up on that experiment with Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society. Though it’s clearly designed for a relatively narrow audience, there’s a lot to love about Labyrinth of Galleria.
Labyrinth of Galleria places you in the role of Eureka, a bright-eyed young girl responding to a job posting that sees her visiting a sketchy abandoned manor in the woods. Here, she is welcomed by the witchy Madame Marta, who quickly bonds her with a cute green ghost that Eureka names ‘Fantie’ and prompts her to use her spooky new friend to explore the vast labyrinth below Galleria Manor in search of powerful magical artifacts that the manor’s mysterious owner desires. No human can enter the labyrinth and return unharmed, so Marta teaches her how to use Fantie’s powers to imbue various puppets with life and direct them to explore the dungeon on her behalf. Eureka thus sets out on a vicarious quest into the depths below, while slowly learning more about her eccentric employers.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
In a bundle just as rare as little Grogu, Microsoft announced two sweepstakes for The Mandalorian-themed Xbox Series S|X consoles and accessories.
An Xbox Wire blog post announced Xbox’s Lucasfilm collaboration featuring a package of Grogu goodies celebrating The Mandalorian’s Season 3 debut. The Star Wars gaming gear is an extra-limited edition set, only available by entering the sweepstakes on Twitter, with more Mandalorian-themed accessories up for grabs through Microsoft Rewards.
Beginning today and wrapping up on May 11, The Mandalorian fans can enter through a retweet with #TheMandalorianXboxSweepstakes of the Xbox official contest post. The custom Xbox Series X and Series S consoles feature the show’s beloved Star Wars dad, Din Djardin, and the adorable Baby Yoda – or Grogu. Sticking to the theme, Xbox is also offering a tiny hoodie for the consoles’ bright green controller, complete with Grogu’s fluffy trim and all.
Anyone in Xbox-supported locations can enter the Twitter sweepstakes, but the Xbox Wire post notes its hosting an additional drawing for a human-sized Pram bundle open to US account holders only. The prize includes the same consoles, but they’re packaged with the giant Grogu pod that features all sorts of bells and whistles with flashy lights, cupholders, and massage cushions.
Bring the ultimate bounty home!
RT with #TheMandalorianXboxSweepstakes for a chance to win a custom Xbox Series X & S.
No purchase necessary, ends 8pm 5/11/23. Open only to Xbox supported regions. Must be 18+ to enter. Official rules: https://t.co/Sp0qAHim5H pic.twitter.com/QhHnrncey2
— Xbox (@Xbox) March 1, 2023
The Mandalorian Season 3 kicks off today on Disney+ with the first of eight episodes, and we’ve already got a list of burning questions from the debut’s biggest reveals. After comments on cameos from some Star Wars characters we thought long-perished, The Mandalorian co-creator Jon Favreau only adds to those rampant fan theories and speculation.
Grogu and Mando’s latest adventure should be available to Disney+ subscribers now, with new episodes airing on Wednesdays. As for The Mandalorian’s premiere, the 8/10 IGN review summarized:
“The show goes back to the beginning to demonstrate how much has changed even if its core dynamic remains the same, laying solid groundwork for a host of new conflicts for the Mandalorian and his foundling to face together.”
Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor director Stig Asmussen wants to make Cal Kestis’s story a trilogy, meaning a third and final game could be coming from Respawn Entertainment in the future.
Speaking on IGN Unfiltered, Asmusssen suggested that a third Star Wars: Jedi game is likely if the upcoming Jedi: Survivor performs well.
Sequel discussions were happening even before Jedi: Fallen Order was released in 2019. “We were already talking about the second game,” said Asmussen. “I mean, frankly, we were talking beyond. And these are conversations that, when we’re breaking this story with Lucasfilm, it’s like: ‘Well, where are we going with the second game?’
“I always wanted to see this as a trilogy,” he continued. “How can we take Cal and the crew to new places beyond what we were doing in the first game?
“We had a pretty decent idea of timeframe where we wanted Survivor to take place, what the stakes were going to be, what the tone o the game was going to be, what Cal was going to be up against, and how the crew was going to factor into that. And there’s ideas of what we could do beyond that as well.”
Asmussen spoke about progress beyond just the story and gameplay too, saying that a third game most likely be built using Unreal Engine 5 instead of Survivor’s Unreal Engine 4. “I think it’s a pretty safe assumption,” he said.
“I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy. I mean, we have a lot of proprietary things that we’ve warped the engine into doing what it does for Jedi right now, and we would have to retool some of that to get it to work on any new engine.”
Jedi: Survivor will need to launch first, of course, with fans finally able to get their hands on the sequel on April 28. Respawn is certainly looking to improve upon the original, having added much requested features including fast travel.
In our preview of the game, IGN said: “Jedi: Survivor feels grander without ever letting the burgeoning scope compromise the exploration and sense of discovery that serves as its heart.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
RPS Game Club, a kind of monthly book club for games where we pick a game to play each month, write some cool things about it, and have a big all liveblog discussion with you lot, our readers, at the end of it. It’s a project I’ve been wanting to get off the ground for some time now, and finally, the Treehouse Game Club doors have been busted open… and there’s some toe-tapping guitar music coming from inside? That’s right, we’re playing Hi-Fi Rush as our first RPS Game Club game, and we hope you’ll join us on this month-long musical journey.Today, Telltale Games has announced that its long-awaited sequel to The Wolf Among Us is being pushed out of 2023 in an effort to avoid crunch and team burnout, as well as accommodate a move from Unreal Engine 4 to 5.
Speaking to IGN, Telltale Games CEO Jamie Ottilie explained that the team made the choice for a number of reasons, but primarily to avoid burnout or shipping an unfinished game.
“Making games is difficult and they need time to be right,” he said. “And it doesn’t do any of us any good to ship something that’s not ready.”
Ottilie explains that like many other studios, the re-established Telltale Games had struggled with the challenges inherent to building a studio during the COVID-19 pandemic. After being resurrected by LCG Entertainment in 2019 following the shutdown of the original Telltale, Telltale unveiled The Wolf Among Us 2 at The Game Awards the following December. But the studio was still in its very early stages, with the game in pre-production (and explicitly not using any previously-developed material), and the new studio roughly two years away from being fully staffed. While at the time it made sense to announce early to help secure funding and support for the new initiative, Ottilie admits that had he known then about other coming factors like the pandemic, he may not have made the same decision.
Since then, he continues, The Wolf Among Us 2 has been proceeding well. But recently, Telltale made the decision to switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal 5. It’s a move that Ottilie says happened because Unreal 5 has a number of interesting features that many on his team, specifically engineers and artists, feel are worth the effort. But he admits that means redoing “quite a bit of work” that was already done in Unreal 4.
With all that in mind, Ottilie says there would have been only two ways to meet the 2023 release window. One option would have been to ship something unfinished, which is (perhaps obviously) off the table:
“If we put this game out and it’s not ready, we’re going to get torn to shreds,” he says. “The expectations are pretty high, and we want time to meet those and we want to be proud of it and know that, ‘Hey, this is the best game we could have made.’ Let the world say what they will [once] it’s done, but at least we know that in these times, in these conditions, this is the best game that we could make.”
The other option would be to crunch — a problem that reportedly plagued the original Telltale Games before its shuttering. Ottilie is adamant that their version of Telltale simply won’t do it.
“I’ve done [crunch], and I don’t want to do it again, and it’s not fair to ask it,” he says. “You can’t plan a business around it. So yeah, part of it is about maintaining a healthy work culture. We don’t want to burn out our good people. It has been incredibly difficult to recruit the last two years between COVID and the labor markets and the growth in the games industry. So certainly, burning people out or grinding them down is the wrong thing to do long-term. It’s not how you build a business. And as an industry, we’re terrible about it. We burn our people out. We burn our best people out faster. And as an industry, if we’re going to continue to grow, we have to stop it. We just have to stop doing it and make better choices.”
The Wolf Among Us 2 will be an episodic release as its predecessor was, but unlike many former Telltale titles, it’s being developed all at once — so when episode one hits, all other episodes will already be completed. It’s now on the docket for 2024, but Telltale does have one major release this year: The Expanse: A Telltale Series, which it’s making in partnership with Deck Nine Games. Telltale also has a third, unknown title in very early development.
In the meantime, it’s certainly worth going back and checking out the original The Wolf Among Us, especially as its sequel will pick up where Bigby Wolf and Snow White left off. We praised the first episode for its “well-written adventure” with “an added dose of stylish noir presentation” when it released way back in 2013, and had plenty of nice things to say about the four subsequent episodes, too.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
